The present invention relates to charging of a device within a sterilizable vessel, and more specifically relates to wirelessly charging of a device within a sterilizable vessel without compromising the sterile field of the vessel.
Powering and/or charging of electrical devices within a sterilized vessel can be problematic. Such vessels used to sterilize devices (for instance, using an autoclaving or other sterilization process) include trays and sterilizable containers. A tray, along with its contents to be sterilized, is typically wrapped in an antimicrobial cloth or barrier, which allows the tray and its contents to be autoclaved or otherwise sterilized. A sterilizable container and its contents can be sterilized without being wrapped in an antimicrobial cloth or barrier, as the contents are sealable within the sterilizable container and able to be sterilized within the container. Powering and/or charging of a sterilized electrical device within a tray or sterilizable container is a challenge because, typically, the electrical device cannot simply be plugged in to a power source without breaking the sterile field.
Therefore, generally speaking, electrical devices, such as, for instance, batteries, to be sterilized are typically charged prior to sterilization. However, charging of batteries prior to sterilization has various disadvantages. For instance, subsequent autoclaving of a fully-charged battery can result in damage to and/or decreased longevity of the battery due to forces within the battery resulting from the raising of the temperature of a fully-charged battery. Additionally, because the charge of a battery decreases over time, what goes on the storage shelf as a fully-charged, sterilized battery can come off the shelf with significantly less charge, depending upon the amount of time the battery was in storage, potentially resulting in the need to pull another sterilized battery off the shelf in order to complete a procedure. In order to recharge or determine the status of a previously-charged, sterilized battery, the battery would typically have to be removed from the sterilized tray or container, checked and/or charged, and then placed back into a tray or sterilizable container and sterilized again.